a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
Happy Friday.
I have been keeping tabs on the Norwegian Sun every few days, ever since I had stepped off the ship eleven days ago.
She left the Falkland Islands yesterday and is headed for Punta del Este in Uruguay. She will arrive there on Sunday (the dotted line).
From there it is just over 90 nautical miles (about 100 miles) to the port of Buenos Aires in Argentina, for the completion of the 14-night sailing out of San Antonio, Chile.
Check out my bathroom’s brand-new mixer faucet. I love it.
(Moen® Rinza with brushed nickel finish).
The Federal Reserve Bank announced today that it is holding the federal funds rate steady. (The rate has been 5.25% to 5.5% since last summer.)
NYT Opinion writer Peter Coy points out (see below) that that means— with inflation coming down— that the Fed is actually tightening monetary policy.
Here’s a cute picture that was posted on the ‘Terrible Maps’ account on X.
(Argentina has more than three times the land area that Chile has).
The 62 °F (16 °C) high of today here in the city was the highest recorded so far for January 29.
Maybe there will be several such days in a row, fifty Januaries from now.
Congratulations to Jannik Sinner (Italian, 22), the 2024 Australian Open Men’s Singles champion. It’s his first Grand Slam title.
Sinner rallied back from two sets down, to outlast Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Medvedev was definitely the underdog, since he had lost his past three matches against Sinner.
[Image: Rebecca Blackwell/AP/picture alliance]
The vessel runs nearly 1,200 feet (365 meters) from bow to stern.
The ship— which is embarking on a seven-day island-hopping tour through the tropics— was officially christened on Tuesday with help from soccer star Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates.
The Icon was built over a period of 900 days at a shipyard in Turku, Finland. It comprises of 20 decks and can accommodate 7,600 passengers at maximum capacity and a crew of 2,350.
There will be 50 musicians and comedians as well as a 16-piece orchestra on board as the ship goes on its sold-out inaugural voyage.
The $2 billion (€1.84 billion) Icon features the latest technology and, despite its gigantic size, claims to be more eco-friendly than some smaller cruise ships.
The Icon is powered by what the Royal Caribbean Group says is eco-friendly Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
Some experts, however, say LNG systems can leak damaging amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere.
– Reporting by dw.com
Happy Friday.
Exactly 324 years ago today— on Jan. 26, 1700, at 9 pm— the Juan de Fuca plate slipped an average of 20 meters (66 ft) along a fault rupture about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) long in the Pacific Ocean.
The magnitude 9 earthquake caused a tsunami which struck the west coast of North America and the coast of Japan.
I have by now (inadvertently) compiled a mini-collection of cancelled stamps from Great Britain— from envelopes sent to me with South African stamps inside.
Here are stamps from an envelope that arrived today.
2004 (13 Jan – 16 Mar). Classic Locomotives.
One side phosphor band (20p.) or two phosphor bands (others). Perf. 14 ½.
2417 1705 20p. greenish yellow, magenta, new blue, silver and black Dolgoch, Rheilffordd Talyllyn Railway, Gwynedd
2418 1706 28p. greenish yellow, magenta, new blue, silver and black CR Class 439, Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, West Lothian
2420 1708 42p. greenish yellow, magenta, new blue, silver and black GWR Manor Class Bradley Manor, Severn Valley Railway, Worcestershire
2421 1708 47p. greenish yellow, magenta, new blue, silver and black SR West County Class Blackmoor Vale, Bluebell Railway, East Sussex
[Source: Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue 2009]
2007 (9 Jan). The Beatles. Album Covers.
Two phosphor bands.
Self-adhesive. Photo Walsall. Die-cut irregular perf. 13½-14½.
2690 1946 72p. greenish yellow, magenta, new blue, silver and black “Revolver”
[Source: Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Concise Stamp Catalogue 2009]
It is ‘rough’ to return to real life after a 17-day cruise at sea as a pampered passenger.
First and foremost: after I turned the main water back on yesterday in my house, I found out that the severe cold snap of last week caused a pipe in my kitchen to rupture.
Then I had to actually make my bed this morning, get food for my empty fridge, make myself breakfast, lunch and dinner, and do my own laundry!
The flights that brought us home to Seattle went without incident.
It was 10 hours from Santiago to Dallas-Fort Worth, and then some 4 hours to Seattle.
On the way to Santiago International airport, just about 10 miles away from here.
It’s summer at 33° South in the Southern Hemisphere, and only a little snow is visible on the Andes Mountain Range in the distance, only some 50 miles away across the border with Argentina. The Andes Mountains form the longest continental mountain range on the planet.
We were late off the ship this morning due to a delay with the crew processing our luggage.
So we had to scramble to find a replacement driver that could take us around the area before we head out to Santiago airport for our red-eye flight out to Dallas.
It all worked out— we did a whirlwind road trip out to Valparaiso, to a restaurant with live music for lunch, to wine farm, another stop for pisco and beers, before we headed out for the airport.
Alas— our journey at sea and around South America has come to an end.
The Norwegian Sun has just arrived at the port of San Antonio and we will disembark shortly.
We will take a long-haul red-eye flight from Santiago to Dallas at midnight, to catch the flight that will take us home to Seattle on Tuesday morning.
We arrived at the port city of Coquimbo this morning.
Our excursion today was a bus ride along the shoreline into the neighboring town of La Serena, followed by a drive inland to the commune of Vicuña (pop. 25,000).
Norwegian Sun is making her way down south along the Chilean coast, and we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn* today.
*The Tropic of Capricorn lies 23° 26′ 22″ (23.4394°) south of the Equator and marks the most southerly latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon.
Our self-directed excursion into Arica this morning took us up the steep path to the top of the hill called Morro Arrica.
At the top there is an enormous Chilean flag, a museum and a statue called Christ of the Peace (a reference to the Treaty of Lima in 1929 that settled lingering territorial disputes between Peru and Chile).
The Norwegian Sun continued her journey along the Peruvian coast towards Chile today. That’s the Silver Nova from the Silversea luxury cruise line out at sea with us.
We should reach Arica— just south of the border with Peru— early in the morning.
We arrived at the cruise terminal on the Paracas peninsula near Pisco this morning at 7 am.
Our excursion was to nearby Paracas National Reserve, an area with protected desert and marine ecosystems.
Most of the area is a moonscape with no vegetation.
It is really part of the Atacama Desert— the driest nonpolar desert in the world.
I caught this one digging a little crab out of the sand at the edge of the surf.
[Wikipedia]
Today’s excursion into Lima took us to Lima Main Square (Plaza de Armas) with the Lima Cathedral just adjacent to it.
We also stopped by the Basilica and Convent of Santo Domingo.
On the way back to Callao and the cruise terminal, we stopped at the Parque Domodossola in Miraflores for a look at the Pacific Ocean and the playas (beaches) below.
